Dark Entity

Three: Unseen

Five minutes inside the basement of the seized building, Togusa quickly, yet carefully searched his assigned area. He moved from corner to corner, and carefully opened doors to look through closets and small rooms that were sectioned off to store certain supplies and equipment. After looking through a room halfway down the basement, he walked down to the next door and stopped beside the doorknob. Squatting down lower to the cement floor, he reached up and turned the knob until he heard a click, and then lightly pushed the door open. He slowly peeked in when the room seemed to be clear of any danger, but he raised his gun at shoulder level, pointing it inside.

His eyes widen, and he stiffened at the sight before him.'Major.' He called her while he entered the room, deactivating his camouflage.

Togusa looked down when the tip of his foot made contact with a shell casing from a used bullet, and watched as it rolled to a stop near a pool of dry and coagulating blood. He turned on his flashlight attached to his assault rifle and scanned the bodies that lay strewn around the room. There were about 10 in all, and some were human while others were either partial or full cyborg as much as he could tell.

'Togusa, report.' Major Kusanagi finally answered.

'I found bodies of victims who were either shot multiple times, or their throats slashed brutally, and even both,' Togusa explained rather grimly. 'Looks like they've been dead for several hours...' He paused, leaning over while he barely paid any attention to what she was saying to him as he picked up the bullet his foot made contact with, and studied it under the light of his weapon. To his knowledge, the shell casing seemed to be from a .50 caliber weapon, which wasn't a good thing, and it made some sense now since the bodies were torn apart. There were more used bullet parts all over the place around the bodies.

Togusa turned back to the door, his eyes looking at the floor, and noticed some heavy footprints going in and out. He stood to walk out of the room with the shell casing still in his hand, and his eyes still on the ground. He never noticed the footprints belonging to boots of something large, and something armed with a heavy weapon.

'I think the terrorists brought with them something large and dangerous, Major,' thought Togusa.

'You saw something that made you think that too, I take it,' Motoko responded.

'Same with me over here,' Batou interrupted. Him and his Tachikoma were following footsteps from the possible armoured suit he was thinking it was from. 'An armoured suit maybe.'

'It could be,' said the Major. 'The terrorists could have bought one illegally, or the police could have one they're using because they've been in the building for a couple of hours now.'

"So, I guess they already searched this place on their way up then," Togusa muttered. The police could've told them that the basement was already cleared so they didn't have to waste time down here.

"Well," Kusanagi said out loud as she walked toward the elevator and a door that said STAIRS in big bold black lettering on a yellow background. "I guess all of you can now hurry up and meet me at the elevator since this place has already been checked out." Without a word, Batou and the Tachikoma hurried faster over to where she was located.

'Alright, I'll be there in a minute,' said Togusa as he started to jog down the corridor toward the Major. On his way, he still kept an eye out for whatever that was down here before; always trust your instincts had been repeated to him from his superior officer at the police station when he was a rookie over there. He'll stick by those words if it was the last thing to do.

Ishikawa listened to Kenji, and sighed heavily. "I'm not going to ask you again," He cut the old man off, "Tell the truth now and stop playing dumb with me."

Kenji smiled, glancing at the others he was taken in with, and then looked back to Ishikawa who was sitting across from him.

Saito and Pazu kept an eye on the other three people, and they both wondered how long it would take for Ishikawa to punch Kenji if the older man didn't comply with their friend.

"My dear boy," said Kenji. "I'm not playing dumb with you. I simply don't have to answer your silly questions; I know my rights."

Ishikawa frowned, his eyes glaring at him. "All I need from you is for you to tell me who you're working for this time," he said. "I don't need for you to ramble on about your damn life story because that's not important." Kenji smiled oddly when he remembered the many lives he helped to take during his time in other countries. Ishikawa caught this. "You're a sick bastard, you know that?"

"Am I?" Kenji chuckled. "I guess I am, but this is only a job one must do..." Trailing off, he glanced over at Saito and Pazu who were asking the three people he was with in the elevator questions. "...Just like you and your friends do."

"Who is your leader?" repeated Ishikawa for the fourth time.

"Find out for yourself," Kenji simply said. "You're a hacker, aren't you? Use your skills to figure that out, or did you?" He smiled when he saw Ishikawa glaring at him. "You don't know what I mean? Is it because each terrorist attack all over the world before we came here is making it difficult to know the real leader of our organization? Hmm?" Ishikawa tightened his hands into tight fists, but he allowed the man to go on. "To avoid people like you to capture the leader, our organization has select individuals for each assignment on government and important targets. You see now?"

His eyes widened when Ishikawa swung a quick fist, and he struck him hard in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious. Kenji fell to his side onto the floor with a heavy thud next to Ishikawa's feet.

"Stupid piece of shit..." muttered the hacker. "Think you're clever, but you aren't."

'Ishikawa,' Major Kusanagi's voice came through to him rather urgently. 'I hope you found information for us.'

'Oh, yeah,' he replied. 'I'll send you what I know over to you right now.' He then added, 'I couldn't get a straight answer from Mr. Kenji though, so he's taking a short break at the moment.' She knew what he meant.

Inside the building, Kusanagi and the Tachikoma were in one area taking turns firing shots at some terrorists they encountered when they rounded a corner of the 10th floor. Togusa and Batou were already two floors above her, but weren't encountering any terrorists yet. After looking through the information Ishikawa sent, Motoko frowned, and started to fire her weapon at one of the terrorists who didn't have time to take cover. Bullets pierced into his forehead and blew his brains out through the back of his skull.

'Different leaders?' thought Motoko. 'Did you ask the other three people who were with Mr. Kenji? They should know something.'

'Saito said that the leader is up on the 40tth floor,' He answered. 'They don't even know what he looks like, but they know only that much because they're lower ranks in the organization.'

Motoko activated her camouflage as she was getting ready to storm through the rest of the terrorists in the hallway, she concluded her conversation with Ishikawa. 'Hack into Mr. Kenji's cyber brain, and get the information we need that way.'

'Yes, ma'am,'

'Tachikoma,' ordered Motoko, 'Watch my back while I finish them off.'

'Roger!' said the Tachikoma as it activated it's camouflage, and turned on its wheels and did what it was told while the Major hurried toward the men who didn't notice her until it was too late for them to defend themselves. The hallway echoed gun fire, screams, and then silence. Only one man was alive, but barely. He struggled to lift himself to try to avenge his comrades, but the Major quickly slammed him back down on his front, and kept her foot over the middle of his back. She aimed the muzzle of her assault rifle at his face, and glared at him when she showed herself to the frightened, seriously injured man.

"D-Don't kill me, please!" He begged. "Please don't kill me."

"Give me a real reason why I shouldn't kill you," she replied.

"I'll tell you anything," The man practically shouted. "Anything that you want."

Motoko held a smirk from forming. "You have five minutes. Starting now."

Togusa quickly walked down the hallway, keeping his gun raised while he carefully watched out for any of the terrorists or hostages. Him and Batou continued to search the floor they were on before heading up to the next floor. Three floors above them, the police were conducting their own counter-terrorism business by tapping into their networks, and calling the leader, and then relaying the information over to Ishikawa who could dive into the net to gain more information. The only thing they've been unable to achieve is the name of the leader, but they had a feeling they would learn soon.

'Batou,' said Togusa. 'Who do you think the leader might be from the database Ishikawa sent us? I think I have an idea.' He slowed down to a slower place. 'Want to hear it?' He abruptly stopped mid-way down the hall. 'Batou?'

Already on edge ever since he was in the basement, and saw the dead who were gunned down in the storage room, and fully expecting something wrong, he spun around. But there was no Batou behind him, nor any enemy to deal with except for his own nervousness and the thick silence in the hallway. Even if he was hidden by the optical camouflage, he could be seen by those with a sharp eye because of the faint translucent distortion it creates.

'Batou?' Togusa repeated. He looked down the hallway, and the rooms they were recently in were closed with no sign of his partner. He felt a rising amount of frustration building right then, backed up slowly in the middle of the corridor toward the next flight of stairs.

Was his eyes just hacked? He remembered when he was sent to investigate that social welfare facility a while back, and his eyes were hacked then, but now? 'No...I came fully prepared this time.' He thought silently. Togusa didn't understand. Batou was two feet behind him, talking randomly about the mission, and then nothing.

Togusa breathed out slowly the breath he just realized he held. His heartbeat and breathing were elevating because of his nerves. 'Big man...' He called to Batou again. 'Hey. Answer me.'

Nothing but silence.

"Damn it..." murmured Togusa. After giving in to the fact that things were actually going downhill for him, he decided that his eyes were hacked, and that Batou probably got hacked as well. Maybe trying to contact the others could give him more of a conclusion to this new problem of his.

'Major?' Togusa paused for a moment to wait for her to answer. Nothing, but then he heard a faint, strange static-like sound in his mind. He winced a little until it faded and shook his head. He continued to back up, and looking over his shoulder toward the exit door where he could go back down to where he thought the Major would be. 'Ishikawa?' Still no answer so far.

'Saito? Pazu? Borma?' No answer from them either.

'Chief?' Silence. 'Anyone?'

Togusa, surprising himself, started to panic. 'Someone answer me, damn it!'

The hand holding the gun at the trigger dropped to his side, and his other hand covered his eyes. The young man stood silently, dealing with not only his nerves, but his twitching, and his sudden, panicking mind. He never realized his camouflage deactivated until he opened his eyes to gaze out between the space of his fingers. His brown eyes darted from left to right, and his mind coaxed him to keep calm, and to not allow himself to lose it.

'Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm...' Coaxed the inner voice in his mind mildly.

"Who the hell hacked my eyes? My senses?" Togusa wondered out loud while the inner voice continued to tell him to stay calm. "Who the hell hacked me...who are you?" He whispered between jittery breaths of air. The air smelled a little strange, but he thought nothing of it as he breathed in deeply. 'Damn it, Togusa. Relax.' He told himself.

After a moment, Togusa sluggishly raised his rifle, beginning to feel calmed down, but not as much as he wanted to feel.

"Mister?" A voice. A young voice that didn't register to him at first quietly called him from behind.

Startled, Togusa turned, eyes widened, and the gun aimed at the ready with his finger itching to push the trigger to release the bullets inside. He gasped, his eyes widening as far as they could go, and he moved his finger away from the trigger. A boy, not even six years old wore a blood-splattered shirt and blue jeans stood there, gazing up at him with tired eyes that has seen too much.

Togusa looked around cautiously before slowly lowering his weapon, and slipped the sling over his shoulder. "Hey," he whispered mildly, "What are you doing here?" The boy stepped back a little when Togusa took three steps closer to him.

"Hey..." Togusa gave him a warm smile. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you because you're safe with me."

The child blinked, and didn't move away when Togusa knelt in front of him so he wouldn't seem intimidating since he was taller than him. He knows how kids are when it came to height of someone – they become even more scared, and are less likely to talk in a bad situation such as this. He reached up to rest a hand gently on the boy's shoulder, and felt the boy tense for a moment, and then relaxed.

Good. He seems real, and not fake like some kind of hack...I guess the hacking is done?' Although, he felt uncertain of that.

"I'm Togusa," He introduced himself, "I work for Public Security Section Nine." While adding, "I'm a cop in other words." Togusa paused to let his words sink in before asking the boy's name.

"Sanjiro," answered the boy. "Are you really a cop?" He asked, studying Togusa curiously.

"Yes," he replied.

"Oh..."

"I'm going to help you, but," he asked, "I need to know if there's anymore hostages, can you tell me?"

"In the Day Care room," Sanjiro answered, "My mommy dropped me off there before going to work."

"Okay," Togusa stood. "Where is this Day Care at? Show me, please."

Sanjiro nodded. "Down the hall, mister," he said, grabbing Togusa by the hand. "I can show you."

Togusa followed quickly behind him. "How far down?"

"It's over there," pointed Sanjiro.

They ended up being at the end of the hallway, and Togusa pulled his hand out of the kid's grip, and lightly pushed Sanjiro out of the way.

"Stay out of the way for a minute while I open the door," Togusa gazed at him sternly. "Okay?"

"Kay," whispered the child. Togusa pointed for him to sit down on the other side of the door, which he did.

Togusa then activated his camouflage, stood on the other side by the doorknob, and reached over to open the door a crack. He held his weapon at the ready, pushed the door wide open with the muzzle of his gun, held his breath, and then entered the dark room. Another dark room, he sighed. There was a gasp from inside, and he took a step closer to shine the flashlight on his gun around the room. In the corner of the room were a group of women and children, scared and exhausted-looking, all stared back at him.

He lowered his weapon, stepped back into the doorway to bring Sanjiro inside so he could shut the door, and locked it. He then turned on the light after finding the switch on the wall. It lit up the whole room to reveal about twenty people.

"Crap..." Togusa muttered. If this is real, and not a hack, he is going to have a hard time getting them down to safety because of the number of children he wouldn't want to be caught in gunfire.

A woman stood, and slowly walked over to him. She looked at him with a mixture of expectations and distrust. "Are you going to help us?" She asked. "You're not one of them bastards, are you?"

"I'm from Public Security Section Nine, ma'am," He answered her second question to assure her. "I'm going to help all of you out of this building."

Another woman sobbed, comforting another child as Sanjiro sat down near them. She was breaking down, Togusa could tell. "Please..." She said between her sobs. "Help us."

"I'll get everyone in here out of here safe and sound," he reassured them. "There are others here from Section Nine who will help too."

'I just need to find them,' He said to himself.

"Follow me, and be quiet." Togusa started to turn toward the door, but stopped. "Huh?" He returned his gaze at the people he was trying to save.

They stared, and he realized they were staring passed him instead. Something was behind him, and when he turned to face what was behind him, and fire his weapon, a large hand belonging to an armoured suit closed around his neck, and jerked him off of his feet. The assault rifle let out a burst of bullets into the floor before it flew out of his hand as the person in the armoured suit slammed Togusa up at the ceiling, and then threw him across the room.

Togusa's back roughly made contact with the wall as he hit it, and slumped to the floor. His breath was knocked out of him, and he could feel a rib or two were cracked from the impact of being thrown. He laid on the floor for a moment, trying to take in a breath, but he was gasping for air that wasn't able to reach his lungs for a couple of seconds. He painstakingly struggled to at least get up on his hands and knees. As he did so, the armoured suit bounded over to him, and grabbed him by the back of the neck.

He grabbed for his revolver, and fired all six rounds into the armour, but it barely did any damage. The terrorist inside the suit laughed at Togusa. "That won't work, you idiot."

The man pulled him up off the ground again, and slammed Togusa face first into the wall he threw him at moments ago, while the people looked on in frozen horror. They knew the armoured suit was in the room, hiding with its camouflage on, but their lives were in the terrorist's hand for them to not be able to tell him about the danger. Togusa, if he knew, would have told them to come out from the safety of the hallway instead.

The dry wall started to crack some more, and Togusa let out a muffled moan of pain. Blood leaked from his nose, and several cuts on his face as the armoured suit decided to continue slamming him several more times until Togusa didn't know where he was. The terrorist held him against the wall, and the Section Nine agent hung there as if he were dead since he could barely move a muscle. He wondered when the terrorist would end his life in front of the people who he promised he was going to save.

Blood and dust nearly covered his face and upper torso. He then felt the large hand release him, and he dropped hard to the floor.

'Batou...Major...' Togusa tried to contact the two, but there was no answer from either end.

He could still feel his emptied Matebe revolver still clutched weakly in his hand as he laid on his side. Togusa forced himself to stand up again, but barely succeeded like the first time.

More laughter of vile amusement from the man in the suit. "Funny how non-cyborgs try to be the hero in shit like this," he said to the women and children. "Especially ones like this dumbass."

Togusa mumbled, "Go to hell," when a large robotic hand snatched a handful of his hair, and raised him up to his knees before throwing him to the floor. He slid a few feet toward the horrified people, and stopped. Lying on his back, he noticed through his blurred vision the assault rifle located at arms reach, and he painstakingly rolled over onto his stomach to make it easier for him to grab for it. Stupid move.

The terrorist realized what Togusa was trying to reach for, and quickly pressed a heavy steel foot over the young man's back. Togusa's eyes widen, and he let out a loud yelp of pain, and struggled somewhat when he felt pressure slowly being applied on his back.

"Shit!" shouted Togusa, agony filling his voice.

"Say your prayers, man," the man laughed. He was about to crush him, Togusa could feel the armoured vest he wore around him start to crack, and his lungs were unable to breathe again, but the pressure stopped suddenly.

'What did I say to you?' demanded Ryusaki through a video link to the other terrorist. 'Don't kill him because I want him alive, not dead, moron.'

'Oh, sorry,' replied the man, 'Must have slipped my mind or something.' He was having fun with this armoured suit like he enjoyed it earlier before the cops showed up. He sighed in disappointment, gazing down at Togusa who laid on the floor, breathing breathlessly with his eyes closed.

'Bring him up here,' Ryusaki said. 'Be careful of those cops, so use the stairs.' He was smiling in the video chat. He watched the whole thing – from the hacking to the assault on Togusa. He had a good plan he wanted to do, and it's coming true each time. 'Hurry up.' He added before ending the transmission.

"Right..." Lifting the foot off of Togusa, he opened the hatch to exit the suit, and climbed out of it. He jumped down next to the down agent, and eagerly kicked him in the side; breaking several more ribs. "Eh, I don't like you cops."

Togusa cried out, and spit up some blood, but couldn't move at all, even though he wasn't paralyzed; At least, he thought he wasn't.

"Hey..." whispered the terrorist. Togusa groggily fixed his eyes at his attacker, wondering what the hell he wanted. "This is where you black out." He lifted his foot, and kicked him in the head with a huge smile on his face.

Togusa saw the foot coming down at him quickly, and then everything went dark after he felt a shot of pain through his head.

A/N: Sorry this is late, but yeah, I hope all of you know what's going on. If you don't feel free to check out my forum or my profile. It says the same thing, but at least I can keep everyone up to day with my forum. Anyway, not much action I thought I was going to write, but what can you do when you're busy with other things? There's still action...Togusa getting hurt. Ouchie, you can say. Thanks for the reviews, but I won't be replying to each one this time – maybe the next chapter.. :) Meh, I hope this was okay...I like it, but I think I could've written better. Must be my tiredness talking...heh.